A number of us the ‘educators’ (teachers, trainers, facilitators and etc.) will have to prepare for our lessons, classes and tutorials.

Most of us will spend our ‘contact hours’ on end every single day learning and feeding our mind with immeasurable amounts knowledge.

People from outside the academics would not feel how we feel in preparing ourselves for new knowledge and information especially in changing semesters where we will be instructed to handle new program or courses.

It's truly is amazing to see that so many people have an interest in taking themselves to the next level. Unfortunately, even though the intention is constructive, there lies a undetected negative affect to studying and learning new information.

With the ‘Latihan Pembangunan Staff’ or the Professional Learning Community or learning seminar of some kind, whether it is powerful and exciting like a raw-raw motivational event or a low-key workshop for new program, we need to fill our minds of new and/or maybe old things.

Obviously from the back-end, the purpose of almost all these seminars are to provide us on something that you may or may not need. However, the program stuff aside, the intention at this seminar is to learn new information, gain knowledge, or maybe even refresh your memory. Chances are that 1-2 weeks after the seminars over, you’ll completely forget almost everything you’ve learned.

On the average, about 80% of everything you learn in any given day is forgotten. What’s more interesting is that when some information comes in, sometimes other information comes out. So now the question is how do we retain more information.

Working on what you want to remember is one of the ways you beat the forgetting syndrome. The best way to make information memorable is to use the keyword method, because it links our verbal memory with our spatial memory.

Doing a task over and over can improve your memory of the task details considerably. Make a conscious effort to incorporate important facts into tasks you practice often.

The average short-term memory capacity is 7 plus or minus 2 pieces of information. That is 5 to 9 pieces. This is why phone numbers are seven digits long. Short term memory is only what you hold in your mind at the moment. If you don't elaborate on it find some way to make it stick then as soon as you stop repeating the information to yourself, it will be gone.

In addition to the 7 plus or minus 2 limit, short-term memory last for only about 20 seconds. When it comes to language, short-term memory generally encodes information by sound, while long-term memory encodes information by meaning.

Therefore, when you want to remember something, don't rely on catchy rhymes or other auditory tricks, aim for meaning.

Similarly, to make your words more memorable, try to make it meaningful and to help people make connections between what you are saying and things they already know.

Items at the beginning and end of a list are more easily recalled than items in the middle. So too with the first and last topics in a speech or in a text so put the important points in the introduction and conclusion. Within paragraphs, put the ideas you want remembered in the first or last sentences. So too with conversations, begin and end with what you want remembered. I used to trained my students this way in writing.

The reverse of this principle works too. Bury the bad news in the middle of your report or presentation to decrease its impact and increase the chance that people will forget it. By consciously arranging how you present information you can increase the effectiveness of your communication.